Conventionally, as a plasma processing apparatus as described above, for example, an apparatus disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-268995 has been known. This plasma processing apparatus has a processing chamber configuring a reaction chamber, a susceptor arranged in the processing chamber for holding a substrate on its upper surface, a gas supply mechanism for supplying a processing gas into the processing chamber, a plasma generating mechanism for forming a plasma from a processing gas supplied into the processing chamber, a high-frequency power supply unit for applying high-frequency voltage to the plasma generating mechanism, and other components.
The processing chamber is configured from a bottom member open at the top thereof, an annular body which is provided so that its lower surface is in contact with the upper surface of a sidewall of the bottom member, a lid body which is provided so that its lower surface is in contact with the upper surface of the annular body, and other components. The annular body is configured from a cylindrical electrode formed in a hollow cylindrical shape, an annular upper insulating material and an annular lower insulating material which are provided at an upper end portion and lower end portion of the cylindrical electrode respectively, and an annular holding member connected to the upper end of the upper insulating material and the lower end of the lower insulating material for holding the upper and lower insulating materials.
The plasma generating mechanism is configured from the cylindrical electrode configuring a part of the processing chamber, and annular permanent magnets which are provided on the outer circumferential surfaces of the upper and lower insulating materials respectively. The high-frequency power supply unit applies high-frequency voltage to the cylindrical electrode.
When plasma processing is performed, various products adhere to the inner surface of the processing chamber. The adherent products cause a problem that they are pulverized into particles and the particles adhere to the substrate. For this reason, the processing chamber is regularly cleaned to remove the adherent products. It is noted that the processing chamber is cleaned, for example, in such a way that, after disassembling the processing chamber, the components thereof are cleaned with a predetermined cleaning fluid or with pure water.
In the above-described conventional plasma processing apparatus, the cylindrical electrode and the upper and lower insulating materials are held by the holding member, and thereby they are integrally configured. Therefore, said plasma processing apparatus is advantageous for disassembling and assembling the processing chamber as compared with a case where the cylindrical electrode and the upper and lower insulating materials are disassembled into individual pieces and then assembled.    Patent document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-268995